


Unleashed

by Hils



Category: Captain America (Movies)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-06-02
Updated: 2014-06-02
Packaged: 2018-02-03 04:25:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,883
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1731062
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hils/pseuds/Hils
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>AU in which Steve and Bucky meet in their local dog park</p>
            </blockquote>





	Unleashed

**Author's Note:**

  * For [so_shhy](https://archiveofourown.org/users/so_shhy/gifts).



Within seconds of waking up, Steve is greeted with a warm nose in his ear and a lick to his cheek. Steve has no idea how Franklin knows when he’s is awake, but it happens like this every morning.

“Hey, buddy,” he murmurs with a sleepy smile. “Breakfast?”

He reaches up to pet Franklin’s head, and is rewarded with four paws dancing heavily on his chest as Franklin scrambles over him to get to the bedroom door. One of these days, Steve will remember not to say the B word until he’s actually out of bed. Seventy pounds of Golden Retriever on top of you can’t be healthy.

They head downstairs, Franklin at approximately a hundred and fifty mile per hour in a mass of flailing paws, and Steve at a more leisurely pace. Steve sips his coffee and munches on a banana, while Franklin wolfs down his food so fast Steve wonders if he even tastes it. 

Their morning walk is Steve’s favorite part of the day. The dog park is still pretty quiet at this early hour, with the sun only just starting to come up, and it’s nice to just amble along tossing a ball for Franklin, who dashes back and forth with his ears flapping and a smile on his face. 

Sometimes Steve brings his sketchpad, but this morning he’s content to just walk and collect his thoughts. He’s got a piece due in a few weeks, and usually his morning walks are when most of his ideas come to him, but at the moment he’s totally blank. It shouldn’t be this hard. It’s just the cover for a spy novel, and for once the book he’s illustrating is actually pretty good. He just can’t find the inspiration for the cover, and it’s starting to get a little frustrating.

Franklin barks at Steve’s feet, snapping him out of his thoughts.

“Sorry, boy,” he murmurs as he bends down to pick up the ball that’s been dropped at his feet. He throws it as far as he can, and watches with a fond smile as Franklin tears after it. 

His mind goes back to the book, and he wishes he could put his finger on why he’s finding it so hard to commit anything to paper. Maybe if he comes back to the park later with his sketchpad he’ll have better luck.

He hears the pounding of Franklin’s paws as he comes charging back, but what grabs Steve’s attention is the growling noise at his feet. He glances down, and right in front of him is a tiny Husky puppy with Franklin’s ball in his mouth. Steve can’t help but laugh. The ball is almost as big as the puppy’s head.

He crouches down. “Hi there, little guy.”

The puppy has dark markings around his eyes that look kind of like a mask, and his fur is so soft when Steve pets him that his heart almost melts. Franklin arrives back at his side, and he gives the puppy a curious sniff before letting out a happy bark and dancing around them.

Steve laughs again. “Looks like you made a new friend, huh?”

The puppy lets out another small growl, and drops the ball before pouncing on Steve’s closest foot and starting to chew his shoe. His teeth are still small, and it doesn’t hurt. In fact, it kind of tickles.

“Hey!” Steve says with a chuckle, but the puppy continues chewing, as though he hasn’t even heard Steve speak.

Steve glances up, trying to spot the owner, but aside from them the park appears to be empty.

“Well, you have to belong to someone,” Steve says, picking the puppy up. “Shall we see if we can find your owner?”

The puppy just starts chewing on one of Steve’s hands instead.

Steve starts to walk in the direction he’d thrown the ball in, figuring if the puppy had found it he must have come from that way. Franklin trots along at his feet, glancing up at the little ball of fur in Steve’s hands occasionally. As they walk there there’s still no sign of anyone, and Steve’s heart sinks as he starts to wonder if the puppy had been abandoned.

He’s just thinking about maybe calling a shelter, when a guy runs into view and skids to a halt in front of Steve. He’s about the same age as Steve, maybe a little older, with hair that comes down to just above his shoulder, and a couple of days of stubble on his face. His left hand is tucked into the pocket of his hoodie, while his right is on his chest as he tries to control his breathing.

Steve almost drops the puppy in alarm. The guy’s face is pale, and he looks like he’s about to keel over. 

“Hey, are you okay?”

The guy takes a deep breath, and he looks like he’s about to answer when his eyes fall on the puppy. Instantly, his eyes narrow and he scowls at Steve.

“Are you trying to steal my dog?”

The puppy starts squirming and letting out happy little yips, so Steve figures he’s found the owner.

“What? Steal? No! I just found him. I was just looking for his owner.”

“Well, you found him,” the guy snaps.

Steve glances down at the puppy, who’s still scrambling to get free. He figures if this guy was actually a danger to the dog, he wouldn’t be so anxious to get back to him.

“Here,” Steve says, handing the puppy over. “I promise I wasn’t going to take him.”

The puppy immediately starts licking the guy’s face, which softens a little under the ministrations.

“You make a habit of just picking up other people’s dogs?” the guy asks, and there’s a little less heat to his words now, as well as a little more colour in his cheeks. 

“I just thought he was lost and was trying to get him back where he belonged.”

The guy’s attention was entirely back on the puppy now, though, and Steve wasn’t even sure he’d heard him.

“Come on, Bandit,” the guy murmurs. “That’s enough excitement for today, I think. Let’s go home.”

He turns around and walks back the way he’d come, without sparing Steve another glance.

“Okay, then,” Steve murmurs to himself, and Franklin lets out a soft whine as he watches his new friend get carried away.

“Come on,” Steve says when they’re finally out of sight. “Time for us to go home, too.”

* * *

Steve pushes the incident from his mind until the next morning when he’s back in the dog park with Franklin. They haven’t been there long when Steve spots the puppy, this time with his owner not far behind.

Franklin lets out a happy bark and charges over, his ears flapping and his tongue lolling. Steve tenses for a moment. Franklin is usually fine with other dogs, but he doesn’t tend to realise that he’s a lot bigger than some of them. He’d never intentionally hurt the puppy, but he might accidentally step on him in his excitement. 

Luckily, Franklin slows down before he gets too close, and after the two dogs exchange sniffs they seem content to playfully chase each other around the park. 

Steve offers a wary smile to the Husky’s owner, who has stopped walking towards him and is eyeing him cautiously. Steve likes to think of himself as a friendly guy, but he knows when to back off and everything from the other guy’s body language is screaming ‘stay away’.

Instead of moving closer, Steve offers a small wave instead. The guy frowns back at him, but he looks more confused than anything, now. God, what if he doesn’t even remember their encounter from yesterday, and thinks Steve is some kind of weirdo who waves at strangers in the park?

The dogs come charging back, and the puppy, not looking at where he’s going, runs face first into the guy’s legs. This, at least, gets him to smile, and he bends down to pet the puppy’s head. Naturally, Franklin takes this as an invite, and shoves his way in to get his own share of the petting.

Steve moves forward, ready to pull Franklin out of the way, but he stops when the guy moves his hand from the puppy with a fond smile to pet Franklin’s head.

“Sorry,” Steve says. “This lug will be anyone’s best friend if he thinks he’ll get petted.”

At this point, Franklin rolls onto his back and exposes his belly for rubbing. The guy huffs a small laugh and obliges.

“You might have to take him home with you now,” Steve laughs. 

“He’s a good dog,” the guy murmurs, and when he stops rubbing, Franklin scrambles to his feet and trots over to Steve to see if there’s more belly rubs to be had.

“He is,” Steve agrees, finally closing the distance between them so he can extend his hand. “Steve Rogers. I don’t know if you remember me from yesterday, but I promise I’m not some kind of crazy dog-napper.”

The guy glances at Steve’s hand for a second like he’s not sure what to do with it, before he finally extends his own and shakes it. “James Barnes, but people call me Bucky. There’s a chance I might be kind of an asshole.”

Steve dismisses the comment with a wave of his hand. “You were worried about your dog. It’s totally understandable. If anything happened to Franklin I don’t know what I’d do.”

Bucky seems to relax a little after that and offers Steve a small smile. “I haven’t had Bandit that long, and yesterday was our first trip to the park. I only took my eye off him for a second.”

“It happens,” Steve replies. “They’re worse than kids for disappearing when you’re not looking. Or so I’ve been told. I don’t actually have any kids.”

Bucky makes a small murmur of agreement.

“It seems they’re getting along,” Steve says, as he watches Franklin and Bandit resume chasing each other around the park. “You can tell me to get lost if you want, but I thought since the dogs are happy, maybe we can walk together.”

For a moment, he thinks Bucky is actually going to tell him to get lost, but finally he sighs and starts walking slowly. Steve follows.

Franklin and Bandit run back every few minutes just to make sure Steve and Bucky are still there, but apart from that they seem content to just play with each other.

Steve’s aware that despite consenting to the company Bucky is kind of hunched in on himself and keeps fiddling with his hair. Clearly he’s not much of a talker, but that’s okay. There are days when Steve enjoys the quiet, too.

“Have you lived in Brooklyn long?” Steve asks, after a few minutes of walking in silence.

“I grew up here,” Bucky replies. He doesn’t expand on it any further than that.

“Yeah? Me too.”

They round a corner, and any further conversation is halted when Steve sees a couple of kids shoving a smaller boy into the fence.

“Neighbourhood hasn’t changed that much I guess,” Bucky murmurs, mostly to himself, but loud enough that Steve hears him. “I’ll be right back.” 

Bucky marches over to the kids before Steve can say anything. “Hey, what’s going on here?”

“None of your business,” one of the older kids snaps.

Bucky silently places himself between the younger boy and the two bullies. “You want to try that again?”

“Come on,” the other bully says. “He’s not worth it.”

The two kids turn and run. 

Bucky turns to face the smaller boy. “You okay?”

The boy nods.

“What’s your name?”

“Caleb.”

“You live far from here, Caleb?”

Caleb points to the gate at the end of the park. “Just over there.”

Bucky nods and flashes him a smile. “How about you walk with me and my friend until you get home, okay?”

Caleb’s face lights up with relief, and a grin spreads over his face when Franklin and Bandit bound over to see what’s happening.

“This is Franklin,” Bucky says, “and the little guy is Bandit. You want to toss a ball for them while we walk?”

“Yeah! Thanks, mister!”

He takes the ball from Bucky’s hand, and laughs in delight when both dogs chase after it. It’s only a short walk from where they started and Caleb gives them both a friendly wave and pets both dogs before disappearing.

Steve has been staring at Bucky the whole time. He’d been all set to intervene with the kids,but Bucky had moved before Steve had even realised what was happening.

“That was incredible,” he finally says.

Bucky flushes red and lowers his eyes. “Anyone else would’ve done the same thing.”

They wouldn’t, and Steve knows it.

“You’re okay with me threatening a couple of kids?” Bucky asks

“I don’t like bullies. Kids need to learn that pushing people around isn’t okay. If they don’t learn it now, they’ll grow up into even bigger bullies.”

Bucky gestures at Steve’s body. “Can’t imagine you had much trouble with bullies when you were a kid.”

Steve laughs. “Believe it or not, I used to be a tiny, scrawny thing. I spent a lot of time getting beat up when I was Caleb’s age.”

“Lemme guess, too dumb to run away from a fight?”

“Once you start running, you never stop. I’d rather go home every day with a bloody nose. For a long time I did.”

Bucky snorts. “Well, it looks like puberty was good to you anyway.”

Steve feels his face flush red. “Yeah, I had a late growth spurt.”

They’re back at the gate near Steve’s house, and they slow to a stop.

“Well, this is me.”

“Okay,” Bucky replies.

He should just go, he knows this, but after the whole incident with the bullies Bucky had actually started talking to him. He looks less tense and he’s looking at Steve less like he’s worried Steve is a psycho and more like he’s just kind of curious about him. 

“Look, it’s totally fine if you don’t want to, but I come to the park at the same time every morning, and if you want some company…”

Bucky glances over at Bandit, who is currently rolling around on his back while Franklin sniffs his belly.

“Yeah, that would be nice actually.”

Steve beams. “Great! I guess I’ll see you tomorrow then.”

He leaves the park just a little bit in love with Bucky Barnes. 

* * *

“I hope you don’t mind that I brought my sketchpad,” Steve says, when he meets up with Bucky the next morning. “I’ve got a project that’s due, and I really need to figure out what I’m going to draw for it. If you’d rather walk while I draw that’s totally okay.”

Bucky shrugs. “Fine by me. I didn’t know you were an artist. You any good? Can I see?”

Steve usually hates showing his work to anyone not connected to his job, but Bucky is looking at him with interest and something warm curls in Steve’s belly. He hands over the pad without a word. 

Bucky waits until they’ve found a bench, and sits down so he can flick through the pages easily with one hand. Steve tosses a ball for the dogs, mostly so he can’t see Bucky’s face as he looks over the art.

“I’m no expert or anything,” Bucky says. “But I hope you get paid a lot for these because they’re amazing.”

Steve blushes. “I make enough to pay my rent and keep Franklin in a steady supply of dog food.”

Bucky whistles. “That much, huh?”

“Man he can eat a lot. You just wait until Bandit is fully grown. You’ll see.”

Bucky sets the pad down on the bench and gets to his feet. “Well, don’t let me get in the way of your artistic genius. I’ll keep the dogs busy while you do whatever it is you gotta do.”

Steve sits down and pulls a pencil out of his pocket. If he can just figure out where to start. He stares at the blank page for a few minutes and glances up.

He freezes.

Bucky is standing, waiting for the dogs to bring the ball back; the shade from a nearby tree is falling across his eyes and the lower part of his face creating an almost mask-like effect.

Steve starts to draw.

His hand flies across the page, starting with an outline and then filling in the detail until he’s got Bucky’s likeness perfectly represented on the page. He adds in a background, just some blurred shapes and shading. He wants the focus to be all on Bucky.

“How’s it going?” Bucky’s voice cuts in and Steve slams the book shut, before realising how stupid he’s being.

“I need to ask you something,” he says, as Bucky sits down next to him on the bench. “It’s going to sound weird considering we only just met.”

Bucky shrugs. “I’ve probably heard weirder.”

Steve opens the book and shows Bucky his work. “I won’t send it anywhere or show it to anyone else unless I have your permission.”

Bucky stares at the page for the longest time and Steve begins to worry that he’s seriously freaked Bucky out.

“It’s good,” Bucky finally says. “I look pretty badass. What’s the book called?”

“The Winter Soldier,” Steve replies.

“Good title.”

* * *

Steve doesn’t mention Bucky’s arm. 

His left one is always tucked into his pocket, and he always wears something with long sleeves even when it’s hot like it is today. There’s obviously a story there, but in the weeks they’ve been walking together Steve has learned that while Bucky is very vocal about sports, food, and their dogs, he does not like talking about himself much.

“Hey, you want to come inside and get a drink?” Steve asks, when they’ve completed their loop. “My place isn’t far.”

Bucky hesitates and Steve mentally kicks himself. He likes Bucky a lot, looks forward to their walks every morning, but they’re over so fast. He just wants to spend a bit more time with him and get to know him a little better.

“The Mets are playing later,” Steve offers, to sweeten the deal. “We can get pizza, and I have beer.”

Bucky tucks his hair behind his ears and finally nods. “Pepperoni on the pizza or I’m gone.”

Steve sighs in relief.

“Pepperoni,” he agrees.

* * *

“You’ve never asked about my arm,” Bucky finally says one afternoon as he sips a beer, his eyes still on the game. It’s become a thing they do now whenever the Mets are playing.

Bandit and Franklin are both curled up asleep at Bucky’s feet, and not for the first time Steve is struck by how right this all feels.

He shrugs. “I figured if you wanted to talk about it you would.”

Bucky sighs. “Is it exhausting being this much of a good guy, Steve? Honestly, I don’t know why you ever wanted to be friends with me in the first place. You’re so… you. And I’m a fucked up mess.”

“You’re not a mess, Bucky. And everyone is a little fucked up.”

Bucky snorts. “Not you. You know, not long after I met you I told my shrink I thought maybe you were a hallucination. I mean, why would a hot, perfect guy like you waste your time on someone like me?”

“I’m not perfect, Bucky. Far from it.”

“Yeah? Well you seem pretty perfect to me.”

Steve takes a deep breath. This conversation has been long overdue, and he honestly wasn’t planning on having it today, but it needs to be said. “I never told you, but I used to be in the army.”

Bucky’s head snaps around to face him, eyes wide and face pale. “What?”

“I got trapped behind enemy lines up in the mountains of Afghanistan. I managed to find a cave to hide in while I signalled for help, but it was two days before a squad could get to me. I couldn’t light a fire in case I gave away my position, so I just had to wait, and I nearly froze to death. First time it snowed after I got back, I had a panic attack in the middle of the street and wound up in the hospital.”

“Steve…” There were tears in Bucky’s eyes, so Steve flashed him a smile.

“It’s okay. I mean I still hate being out in the snow, but I got a lot of help and I’m doing better. Franklin helps. He loves the snow.”

Hearing his name mentioned, Franklin sits up and rests his head on Bucky’s lap, staring up at him with sad eyes as though he can sense Bucky’s distress. Bucky rubs Franklin’s ears gently, looking down at him so he doesn’t have to make eye contact with Steve.

“Bandit is a PTSD service dog. I get a lot of nightmares, and he’s trained to wake me up when it gets bad, and he helps me if I zone out and forget where I am.”

Steve offers Bucky a reassuring smile, even though Bucky still won’t look at him. “I’m glad you have him.”

Bucky finally stops petting Franklin and reaches across to roll up the sleeve of his left arm, revealing a plastic prosthesis.

“We came under fire in Iraq, and when I was scrambling for cover I slipped and went over the edge of a cliff. I don’t remember much about what happened. I hit my head when I fell, but they told me a rock dislodged and crushed my arm. They couldn’t save it. When I woke up I had no idea who I was, and my arm was gone. Freaked the hell out and attacked two doctors before they managed to sedate me. 

“I did a lot of work with therapists and some of my memories have come back. I know who I am now, at least. But, like I said, I’m pretty fucked up.”

Steve reaches out and takes Bucky’s hand in his, giving it a gentle squeeze.

“I didn’t get through what happened to me without help. I had therapists, friends, Franklin.”

“I don’t exactly have a lot of friends, Steve. It’s just me and Bandit.”

“And me,” Steve adds.

Bucky glances at their entwined hands. “Is that what we are, Steve? Friends? I don’t even know if I remember how to be someone’s friend.”

Steve smiles. “You’ve been doing a pretty good job so far.”

Bucky leans over and kisses him. It’s a small, almost chaste kiss and it’s over as soon as it’s happened, but Steve is already yearning for more.

“I told you, Steve. I fuck everything up,” Bucky says ruefully, when he pulls back.

“That’s not how I’d describe it,” Steve replies with a shy smile. “Besides, we already established that I’m messed up too. We can be messed up together.”

Bucky shakes his head with a fond smile. “I’m still not entirely sold on you not being a hallucination, you know.”

Steve grins. “I guess I’ll just have to prove how real I am, then.”

When he leans over to kiss Bucky this time, it’s not small and definitely not chaste.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to [Chaneen](http://chaneen.livejournal.com/) for the beta. Any remaining mistakes are my own.
> 
> Bandit was totally based on [this video](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/07/10/husky-puppy-tennis-ball_n_3572591.html)


End file.
